The Heart Remembers
by snowzone5
Summary: Modern AU. Mike has a bad encounter with short haired girl in the Hawkins college library. Angst. Mileven.


**The Library**

Mike grabbed the textbook from the locker. _Antenna Theory and Design._ Stutzman's book was a dry read but ever since his days at the president of the Hawkins AV club, his interest in just _how_ the radio waves were sent and received became a fascination.

He decided to take a technical radio communications course in the renovated Hawkins Lab. It was now Hawkins Vocational Technical College, HVTC as it was shortened to. Most students just called it HV, or _HeeVee _ for short.

HeeVee was a large building and covered a lot of different technical disciplines. It seemed like there were enough nerds in Hawkins to support the project.

Mike was sure it was just the Department of Defense trying to placate the mayor and the chief of police for whatever fiasco had happened back in the eighties.

He figured he'd need his notepad and pencils for his study session. He grabbed those too and went to the technical library located on the first floor of the college. His locker was located on the fifth floor below ground floor, and he didn't have any idea of how many underground floors were in the building, but given what HNL had been up to, he was sure there were a lot more below him. This floor was quiet. A lot of students went to the common area on this floor to nap, or get a full blown sleep.

The library was mostly full, he saw a table near the windows, only one guy was sitting at it. There was plenty of room to spread his papers out at the other end of the table. He wound his way to the table.

He felt the vibration of his cell phone. He was getting a text. He took a quick look. It was from Max.

[ MadMax: _I'm on the ground floor common room if you're looking for me. Be here for awhile.]_

Mike, smiled. He'd get an hour of studying in and then go sit with her to gab for a bit. He sent her a quick acknowledgement text so she'd know he got hers.

He sat down across from the guy at the table.

"And just what do you think _you're_ doing."

Mike already answered, "Maxwell's Equations," before he realized it was a girl's voice that had just spoken. With a little bit of an unfriendly edge to it.

He looked up. He was confronted by piercing, heartbreakingly beautiful eyes.

She had a look of disappointment on her face. "What? You not going to say anything to the weirdo with the buzzed hair?"

Mike surprised himself and said, "You have the prettiest eyes I have ever seen."

"Ok, you win the bet. Go tell your asshole friends that she spoke to you. Fuck off."

Mike turned a deep red, and gathered his note paper and book, "Sorry." He couldn't look at her. Not being able to look at those eyes ever again was going to be a painful reminder that he was lonely.

XXXXX

[11: _Max! I just saw a guy with the most gorgeous ass, hair and eyes I've ever seen.]_

[MadMax: _Well, then, get over here in the common room and give me the deets._]

Max waited for her best friend's reply. A few minutes later her phone buzzed.

[11: _False alarm, he insulted me, so I have elevated his ass to asshole status. Too bad, I'd jump him in a second. I'm on my way._]

"Who's texting you? Lucas? I've been looking for him all day."

"Lucas is waiting for Dustin to get out of his cooking class. He finished with his coach early, and when Dustin's out they will go find Will in the art department. This," She held up her phone. "Was my friend El."

"You've mentioned her before."

"Yeah, you'll finally get to meet her. She's going to give me the details of some asshole whose ass she was ogling."

"Sound like you both need to get boyfriends," Mike cracked open his textbook again.

"Might be easier for me than it is for her." Max said.

"Yeah, it could happen for the rest of the day if you just showed any kind of interest in Lucas. You know he likes you right?"

"I don't want it to be awkward for you."

"You've been a party member for how long now? It was obvious to everyone a long time ago. Now we don't say anything because it we're all sure it's not going to happen. Lucas has been moping around us for a few years now. You notice he doesn't have a girlfriend, but there's been plenty of interest?"

Max was quiet. She said in a voice less sure of herself than Mike had heard for awhile, "I know, I thought he'd be more traditional and ask me out… it looks like he's waiting for me to make the first move."

"Lucas doesn't even _know_ you like him. You've given him no signals whatsoever."

"Here she comes, try not to be too much of a dork. You should try brushing your hair every week or so."

"Never makes any difference. I'm stuck with a wild mop. It's not driving the girls wild, that's for sure."

He was about to say _Hi_ to shapely girl who sat diagonally from him, when he saw it was the girl from the library.

He felt his face heating up. "Um, sorry again," he pointed to Max, this is one of my asshole friends. I'm going to fuck off now."

He got up and left quickly.

XXXXX

"_That's_ the asshole I was telling you about." El said smirking.

"Mike? No way. He's one of my best friends. He's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. And I agree with you gorgeous ass, eyes and hair. I don't believe for a second that he insulted you. What did he say?"

El was looking at Mike's retreating figure. Ok, _his ass El, you are looking at that nibblible ass._

"Out with it El. What did he actually say?"

Suddenly she felt guilty, "He… he said I had the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen. I thought he was being an asshole and told him to eff off."

Max looked at her sternly, "El, _that's _not an insult. It's a compliment. He must have been really taken with you because MIke is about a shy as they come. You didn't say _eff_ did you?"

El looked down and shook her head.

"I don't know if you realize it or not. But every time we talk about guys and you describe your perfect guy, you are literally describing Mike. I was going to try and set you two up, but _that_ sure as shit isn't going to happen now. Shit, I should go see if he's alright."

El was silent. _Max was right. What the hell had she been thinking._ She had long gotten over being self conscious about her hair, so why had this guy suddenly made her feel vulnerable again? She had outlined her perfect boyfriend to Max dozens of times. And then one day he sat in front of her. She had screwed it up royally.

"I'll apologize to him."

"Mike doesn't like confrontation, I'll bet he didn't argue with you when you told him to fuck off, did he?"

"No, he just said sorry, and left right away."

"He won't sit with me if you are here, so you need to fix this shit right away. You guys are both my friends. I'm not going to schedule when each of you can sit with me."

"I'm sorry Max."

"Apologize to yourself, El. You didn't do yourself any favours. I'll work out some way for you to apologize to him. Mike is a really nice guy. You two would actually be perfect for each other. Mike's not really had it easy."

"Oh?"

"He was bullied a lot as a kid. One day on a family trip his dad fell asleep at the wheel, and they crashed into a tree. Hid dad and older sister were killed. It's only his mother and his little sister Holly left at home now."

"That's awful. I feel like shit now. He's smart too. He's taking the technical side of radio communications. You're right, he's the guy I've wanted to meet since I was twelve." El bit her lower lip. "Shit."

XXXXX

[MadMax: _She's gone, you can come and sit with me now, asshole :) _]

Mike smiled. Max never missed an opportunity to stick it to him in a funny way if she could.

He made his way back to the common room. He picked up two coffees, found Max's table and went over.

"Hey, Max, sorry if it was awkward for you guys after I left." He passed one of the coffees to her.

"Mike, you should let her apologize to you."

"You know what Max? It's not really her words that bothered me, they weren't that bad. It was the look in her eyes. You have eyes that pretty, rip into your soul with that kind of vitriol. It comes from the heart."

Mike looked a little wistful. "Pretty eyes, ugly heart."


End file.
